Their fondest view of N.J. will be in the rearview mirror

In my travels I always run into people fed up with New Jersey and politicians unwilling to tackle its many problems who voted with their feet. Sometimes I run into people whose company had enough and moved the business. Fairleigh Dickinson University's PublicMind poll sheds some light on this. In talking to non-retirees, it finds 32 percent plan to stay in New Jersey. And 57 percent plan to move on. My experience over the years tells me that 32 percent number will drop. Twenty years ago when I wrote the Baby Boomers would retire and spend the rest of their lives elsewhere I had people tell me they didn't like high property taxes and what they call the "police state" but the kids grew up here. I now have the same people tell me now as soon as their last kid graduates they're off to the South. They can always come visit if they want, they say. One of my pals in South Carolina said a friend had a summer home there where she spent part of the year. The light bulb came on when she compared tax bills. She sold the one in New Jersey and lives in the Palmetto State full time now. New housing is sprouting like weeds. The winter we just had didn't help matters. But people are fed up with the cost of living and Trenton's kowtowing to special interest groups like public employee unions who refuse reform. When enough people leave and who's left can't pay the bills they will wish reform had been a reality.

State Issues Columnist:
Bob Ingle is a New York Times Best-Selling Author. His The Soprano State sold out in two days and became a best seller the first week. It was made into a movie. His Chris Christie: The Inside Story Of His Rise To Power received laudatory reviews from outlets as varied as The Wall Street Journal, The Hill, The Washington Times, Publishers Weekly, NPR, ABC, among others. His syndicated column is read in Gannett newspapers in New Jersey, his blog “Politics Patrol” and Tweets are read in countries around the globe. He has appeared on all major TV and radio networks. For eight years he was a regular on 101.5 FM radio and currently is regularly on heritage station WCTC and Internet radio. He has won numerous major journalism awards, including Best of Gannett, National Headliner and Society of Professional Journalists. In high school he was a TV producer at a network affiliate in Atlanta as well as on air on two of the city’s top radio stations while writing a column for The Atlanta Journal and being talent in Coca-Cola ads. For 12 years he worked in various bureaus for the AP, including Seattle as an editor where his coverage area – the Pacific Northwest, Alaska, British Columbia, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories was the largest geographically outside the AP New York General Desk. He later was a columnist for The Atlanta Constitution and was marketing director for Georgia-Pacific Corp., world’s largest manufacturer and distributor of building products, then Fortune 36. There, among other things, he was in charge of TV production where a series of shows was the forerunner of the DIY network. He oversaw print ads and production of TV commercials in California. He lectured on marketing, including internationally. His marketing campaigns are found in marketing text books and his political books are texts in colleges. He speaks to college audiences and other groups whenever time allows.